Latch mechanism for disappearing wardrobe doors



Oct'. 6, 1953 2,654,241

' LATCH MECHANISM FOR DISAPPEARING WARDROBE DOORS J. F. SCHAEFER 3 Sheets-Sheet l Filed March 25 INVENTOR. Jose/w f. cmspse ll 1']. C

freeways Oct. 6, 1953 J. F. SCHAEFER LATCH MECHANISM FOR DISAPPEARING WARDROBE DOORS 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 25 1950 INVENTOR. .7536! A fawn-re Oct. 6, 1953 SCHAEFER 2,654,241

LATCH MECHANISM FOR DISAPPEARING WARDROBE DOORS 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed March 25, 1950 INVENTOR.

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Arraqmsyy BY M compartment I2 recessed into a wall I3 and hav- A ing a front opening which is closed by a group or battery of doors M which, in their closed position, are in a substantially co-planar relation in alignment with the wall 13. As here shown, the doors [4 are preferably arranged in pairs com prising rightand left-hand doors 14a and 14b, and are mounted for swinging movement so as to recede or disappear into the compartment 12 when the doors are swung to their open position.

The front opening of the compartment 12 is divided into a number of doorways 15 by spaced upright door posts l6 and each such doorway is controlled by a pair of the swinging doors l4. As shown in Figs. 3 and 8, the door posts [6 can be formed by a pair of upright channel members 6c and 53b disposed in back-to-back relation At their lower ends the door posts iii are supported on the floor l1 and at their upper ends are connected with a longitudinally extending frame or lintel I8. The lintel 18 can be of'any suitable construction, such as that herein illustrated, in which this member is formed by a bar |8a of a substantially right-angle cross-sectional shape which is attached to the arch IQ of the building wall I3 and a substantially Z-shaped bar l8b which is attached to the depending flange of the bar 180. as by means of the screws 20. The longitudinal space between the bars I80. and Nb can be closed by a longitudinally extending sheet metal trim member 2 I.

The pairs of swinging doors Ma and Nb are mounted on the door posts [6 for inward swinging movement by means of a pair of suitable upper and lower hinges 22 and 23 for each door. In this instance, the hinges 22 and 23 are shown as being of the type comprising an angular bracket 24 which is attached to the door post l8 and carries a large pin 25, and a sleeve or bushing 23 connected with the door 14 and pivoted on the hinge pin 25. In the construction here shown ,g

the brackets 24 are mounted on the door post I6 so that the hinge pins 25 thereof extend toward each other in a substantially vertically aligned relation and the sleeves 26 are mounted in the hollow edge portion or hinge stile 26a of the door so that the hinge pins extend thereinto through the top and bottom edges of the door. The vertical spacing between the brackets 24 of the upper and lower hinges 22 and 23 is greater than the height of the door M as to leave an intervening space 21 at the upper hinge 22 which will accommodate an upward shifting movement of the door, for a purpose to be explained hereinafter.

The doors I4 are preferably self-closing doors which will normally swing to their closed position in the above-mentioned co-planar relation. Such a self-closing movement for the doors can be provided by the use of door hinges having a suitable self-closing spring means embodied therein or preferably, as shown in this instance, by providing a gravity actuated self-closing means. The gravity actuated self-closing means here shown comprises an inclined track member 28 mounted on the lower hinge bracket w th 4 24 and an anti-friction roller 29 mounted on the door and adapted to ride on this track member.

During opening of the doors by a manual inward swinging thereof the rollers 29 travel up the inclined track members 28, thereby lifting the doors a corresponding distance which is permitted by the above-mentioned intervening space 21'. When the doors which have been thus opened are released, they will swing back automatically to their closed position and will come to rest in the above-mentioned co-planar relation. The closing force for the doors is provided by the weight of the doors acting through the rollers 29 on the inclined track members 28 as the result of which the rollers tend to travel down the track members, thereby swinging the doors toward the closed position.

The improved latch mechanism l0 provided by this invention includes a rockshaft 30 whichextends longitudinally of the wardrobe compartment I2 at a point above the tops of the doors I4. The shaft 30 is rockably mounted in suitable supports which are here shown in the form of supporting arms 3| extending rearwardly from the longitudinal Z-bar I81) of the lintel structure 8. The latch mechanism 10 also includes holding members 32 carried by the rockshaft 30 and which are movable by the latter to an effective position in which they will be engaged by latch devices 33 carried by the doors M for holding the doors in their open position.

The holding members 32 are here shown as being located on the underside of the rockshaft 30 and as being formed by the heads of screws 34 which extend through openings of this shaft. The heads of the screws 34 are of such shape that the holding members 32 will have a downwardly converging taper or bevel 35 on opposite sides thereof which will permit the latch device 33 of the door l4 to move past. such holding member for either direction of swinging travel of the door. This downwardly converging taper on the holding members 32 can be readily obtained by making the screw heads of the conical shape here shown.

As shown in the drawings, the latch devices 33 of the doors I4 are of the type comprising a casing 36,mounted on the door and a plunger 31 adapted to be extended from such casing by a compression spring 38 located therein. The end of the plunger 31 cooperates with the holding member 32 and, for this purpose, is provided with upwardly converging flat beveled faces 39 on opposite sides thereof so that this plunger can be made to ride over and travel past the holding member 32 for either direction of swinging movement of the door.

Thus when one of the doors I l is manually swung to its open position the plunger 31 will engage the holding member 32 and, by reason of the beveled faces provided on the holding member and plunger, the latter will be able to ride over the holding member and assume a position in back of the holding member, as shown in Fig. '7. When the plunger 31 is in this position it will cooperate with the holding member 32 for retaining the door M in its open position, but such holding engagement of the plunger 31 with the member 32 will be a releasable engagement such that the door can be readily closed by a manual closing effort applied thereto. When such manual closing effort is applied to the door [4 the plunger 31 of the latch device 33 will again travel over the holding member 32 after which the door is free to swing to its: closed-position under thcinfinnce or the salt-closing action explained: above;

When some or of'thedoors l4 arestanding in their openposition they canbe releasedsimultaneously for self-closing movementv by; rocking the shaft. 3cm cause the holding memhers; to be disengagedfrom the.- plunger 31-: or the latch devices. 33. The rocking movement thus imparted tothe shaft is: a clockwise movement, as seen irr.l*-'igsv 5am 6', and: shifts the holding members 32 from their effective. position shown in Fig. 6 totheir ineffective: position shown in Fig. 5.. Rocking'of the. shaft. or in the oppositedirection shifts the holding members to. their effectiveposition Gshown in Fig. 6) which vistheir normal position because they: are then ready to: beengaged by the plungers 3'! whenever the doors M are swung to their open position.

The swmging of the roclizshaftz an to shift the holding members 32 out: of their effective position can bra-accomplished by any suitable mechanism, such as the linkage shown in this instance, and which includes a rearwardly proj'ecting lever 40 connected; with the rockshaft anda link 4! having its upper end pivotally connected with this lever. Thelower endof the lever M ispivotally connected: with the arm 42a of a bellcranlr lever 42-, which is pivoted on the door post lit for swinging movement by means of the screw 43. This actuating mech- 44 and the arm 42b of the bellcrank lever 42- can be formed by aslot 45 providedin this arm and a pin- 45 carried by the plunger andengaging.

in this slot. The plunger 44 is provided at the forward end thereof with a knob or handle 4-! which is adapted to be manually grasped for impartingan inward and outward movement to this plunger; An outward movement imparted to the plunger 44 causes swinging of the bell crank lever 42 in a clockwise direction, thereby transmitting an upward thrust to the lever 40 through the link 4| which rocks th rockshait 30 in a clockwise direction to move the holding members 32 to their ineffective position shown in- Fig; 5. Inward movement of the plunger 44 causes a counter-clockwise swinging of the bellcrank 42', thereby transmitting'a downward pull to the lever 40 through the link 4| and thus swinging the rockshaft in a counter clockwise direction to move the holding members 32 to their efi ective position shown in Fig. 6, in which they will be engaged by the plungers 3-1 of the latch devices 3-3 when the doors are manually swung to their open position.

As indicated above, the normal position for the rockshaft 30- is that shown in Fig; 6 in which the holding members 32" are intheir effective position ready to be engaged bythe latch devices 33 ofthe doors M. The rockshaft 3'0 can b made to automatically assume this position as by, providing a counterweight 48 onthe lever 40', or by providing some other equivalent means such as a suitably arranged tension spring. From the arrangement described it' will be seen that unless the rockshaft 30 is preventedfrom doing so, it will, under the influence of the counterweight 48, automatically assume its normal position. Whenever it'is' desirable to maintain the holding members 32 in their ineffective position shown in Fig. 5, this can be done by dingy-actuated locking. device an provided on the: door post It; on which;v th plunger; 44; is mounted: and. which, locking. device cooperates with the bell'crank leverfl. p

The locking device 50: is here shown as having abolt member M which is adapted-to be swung by means or a key 52. and-which movable into. a holding; position with: respect to. a finger 53 carriedrbv the arm-42b of the bellcrank. lever 42. When the holding members 3%. are in their ineffective; position, asshown in Fig. 5 the fin.- ger Shot the; bellcrank lever. 42-. wilt occupy an upright position alongside of; the.- post "5,. at which. time the.- bolt member 5t can be moved into. a position. in. back. of this finger by rotation of the key 52. Whenthe holding members 32 are to be returned to their effective position, the key 52' is rotated in the opposite direction to swing the bolt member 5| to. a r.e tracted position, thereby releasing the finger 53 and permitting. the link 4! to drop down to the position shown in Fig. 6 under the influence of. the. counterweight 48, thereby rocking the shaft 30' and moving th holding members 32 to. their: effective position. As shown: in Figs. 5. and 6, the plunger 44 is preferably provided with. inner and. outer bumpers 54- and 55 formed of yieldable cushioning material, such as sponge rubber, and which are engageable, respectively, with opposite sides of the door post l6- during outward and inward. movements of this plunger.

When some or all of the doors l4 are standing in the open position they can be. individually disengaged from the holding members 32 by a manual force applied to the doors, as. explained above, or all of the open doors can be: simultaneously released for self-closingv swinging movement by rocking the shaft 30 to. the position of Fig. 5 by withdrawing the plunger 44. Immediately upon the withdrawal of the plunger 44, the open. doors will begin to swing toward their closed. position and the initial portion of this swinging movement will cause the latch devices 33. to move clear of the holding members 32. As soon as the plunger 44 has. been withdrawn to initiate such closing-movement of the open doors, the plunger can beimmediately released, which will permit the counterweight 48 to rock the shaft 30-1 in the opposite. direction to return the holding members. 32- to their effective position. The latch mechanism It. can be left in this condition and whenever one or more doors. are left standin open they can be released for automatic closing merely by pulling out the plunger 44.

Another important feature of this invention is the provision of locking members 58 for holding the doors I4 in their closed, position. These locking members are mounted on the rockshaft 3-0 soas to lie opposite the meeting points of the pair doors Ma and Mbwhen such paired doors are in their closed. position. The locking members 58 are. here shown as being arms which are suitably mounted. on the rockshaft as. so as to extend therefrom in a generally forward direction. One such locking member is provided on the rockshaft 30:- for eachpair of doors and when these members are in their efiective position for preventing opening of the doors, they extend forwardly and downwardly toward the doors as shown in Fig. 5..

For cooperation with the locking members 58', the doors l4 ar provided with. latchdevices 59 which are generally similar to the latch devices 33 described above. The latch devices 59 are mounted on the upper ends of the doors M adjacent their meeting edges and each of these latch devices comprisesa casing 60 attached to th door and a plunger 6| normally held in a partially projected position by a compression spring 62 contained in the casing. The latch devices 59 differ from the latch devices 33 in that the plunger 6| has a bevel 63 on only one side thereof and on the opposite side is provided with a straight or fiat abutment face 64. The end of the locking member 58 is provided with a recess 65 adapted to receive th plunger 61 and is also provided with an abutment element 56 which cooperates with the abutment face 64, as shown in Fig. 5, for preventing opening movement of the door.

When the locking members 53 are in their effective position, the doors [4 can swing to their closed position because the bevel faces 63 of the latch devices 59 will permit the plungers 64 thereof to readily move past the abutment elements 66 of the locking members. As soon as the doors reach their closed position the plungers 64 Will engage in the recesses 85, whereupon the abutment elements 55 will be engaged by the flat abutment faces 6d of the plungers to prevent opening movement of the doors. The doors will be maintained in their locked position as long as the locking members 58 occupy their effective position shown in Fig. and this condition can be maintained during classroom periods or at other times when pupils are to be excluded from the wardrobe compartment E2.

When the doors of the wardrobe H are to be unlocked to permit access to the compartment 12, it is only necessary to swing the bolt member 5| by rotation of a key 52 in the locking device 50 to thereby release the finger 53 of the bellcrank lever 42, whereupon the counterweight 48 will move the rockshaft ac to shift the looking members 53 from their effective position to their ineffective position. This same actuation of the shaft 30 will shift the holding members 32 to their effective position as previously explained herein.

Although the latch mechanism H3 is illustrated herein as including the locking members 58 as one feature thereof for maintaining the doors l4 in a locked condition, it should be understood that, if desired, these locking members and the corresponding latch devices 59 can be omitted. When the locking members 58 are thus omitted, the latch mechanism is used for controlling only the open position of the doors.

From the accompanying drawings and the foregoing description it will now be readily understood that this invention provides improved latch mechanism for a battery of swinging wardrobe doors by which individual doors can be releasably retained in an open position, and by which all of the open doors can be simultaneously released for swinging to the closed position. It will also be seen that this invention provides a locking means by which the doors can be locked while in their closed position. Additionally, it will be seen that this invention provides a common rockshaft for simultaneous actuation of all of the door holding and door locking members so that the respective door releasing and door locking functions can be accomplished simultaneously for all of the doors of the group.

Although the improved latch mechanism provided by this invention has been illustrated and described herein to a somewhat detailed extent,

it will be understood, of course, that the invention is not to be regarded as being limited correspondingly in scope but includes all changes and modifications coming within the terms of the claims hereof.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. Latch mechanism adapted to be applied to a door frame and a row of paired doors mounted for swinging movement of the adjacent free edges of each pair of doors to open and closed positions, comprising a holding member for each door of said row, a locking member for each pair of said doors, a rockshaft for mounting on said door frame inwardly of said row of doors and forming a common actuator for said holding members and said locking members, said holding members being movable to an effective position for engaging and holding said doors in the open position by rocking of said shaft in one direction and said locking members being movable to an effective position for engaging and locking said doors in the closed position by rocking of said shaft in the opposite direction, and means for imparting rocking movement to said shaft for moving said holding and locking members into and out of their effective positions.

2. Latch mechanism adapted to be applied to a door frame and a row of paired doors mounted for swinging movement of the adjacent free edges of each pair of doors to open and closed positions, comprising a holding member for each door of said row, a locking member for each pair of said doors, a rockshaft for mounting on said door frame inwardly of said row of doors and forming a common actuator for said holding members and said locking members, said holding members being movable to an efiective position for engaging and holding said doors in the open position by rocking of said shaft in one direction and said locking members being movable to an effective position for engaging and locking said doors in the closed position by rocking of said shaft in the opposite direction, means for imparting rocking movement to said shaft for moving said holding and locking members into and out of their effective positions, first latch devices carried by said doors for cooperation with said holding mem bers for releasably retaining the doors in said open position and having spring projected latch elements engageable with said holding members and movable past the same in response to manually imparted swinging movement of the doors in either an opening or closing direction, each of said locking members having an abutment means of a width to span the meeting line between the adjacent free edges of one of said pairs of doors, and second latch devices mounted on said doors adjacent the free edges thereof and having spring projected latch elements engageable with said abutment means for holding the doors in their closed position and being movable past said abutment means during swinging movement of the doors toward their closed position.

3. Latch mechanism adapted to be applied to a door frame and a row of paired doors mounted for swinging movement of the adjacent free edges of each pair of doors to open and closed positions, comprising a holding member for each door of said row, a locking member for each pair of said doors, a rockshaft for mounting on said door frame inwardly of said row of doors and forming a common actuator for said holding members and said locking members, said holding members being movable to an effective position for holding said doors in the open position by rocking of said shaft in one direction to a normal position and said locking members being movable to an efiective position for locking said doors in the closed position by rocking of said shaft in the opposite direction to a locking position, first latch devices carried by said doors for cooperation with said holding members when the latter are in their effective position, said first latch devices having projecting spring-pressed plungers which are movable past said holding members during manual movement of said doors to and from said open position, second latch devices carried by said doors for cooperation with said locking members when the latter are in their eifective position, said second latch devices having projecting spring-pressed plungers which are movable past said locking members during closing movement of said doors, abutment elements on said locking members and the plungers of said second latch devices for cooperation in preventing movement 10 of said doors out of said closed position, means for imparting rocking movement to said shaft for moving said holding and locking members into and out of their effective positions and tending to rock said shaft to said normal position to locate said holding members in their effective position and said locking members out of their efiective position, and key-operated means controlling the last mentioned means and efiective to cause said rockshaft to be maintained in said locking position.

JOSEPH F. SCHAEFER.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 848,646 Gostemeier et a1 Apr. 2, 1907 1,041,700 Thornby Oct. 15, 1912 1,956,277 Ellison Apr. 24, 1934 2,227,803 Bales Jan. 7, 1941 

